On one of our first dates, Melanie and I drove along a route where we got a view of a city at night. (I don’t remember what city… yikes. Let’s say “Portland!” with utter confidence.) She asked me what I thought about when I looked at all those lights. I don’t remember what I said — probably something about the importance of good urban planning. I had the sense to ask her what she thought about. She said “All those people each have their own story, their own narrative.”
Right there is why they’ve run out of faculty awards to give Melanie, and why I’ve never come close to getting even one of them.
But I’m not as dumb as I look. Ever since then I have tried to remember Melanie’s lesson: everyone has a narrative.
Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: I’m terrible at remembering important things. For example, just last week when I was busy dumping Kyuji Fujikawa almost as fast as the Rangers did, I never thought about his life story. I was just trying to find a way to save $500,000 fantasy dollars, hoping some other team would pick him up for the minimum MLB salary. The W’s needed the money more than they needed some marginal roster-cluttering dollar-consuming relief pitcher.
Last night I read in MLBTraderumors that Fujikawa has already found his home. Not in MLB, not in the minor leagues, not even in the Japanese major leagues. He signed with the Kochi Fighting Dogs, a member of the independent Shikoku Island League. This is sort of like the Japanese version of the Long Island League, apparently. I checked out the Fighting Dog’s roster, which (according to the Google translation function) includes:
Formed Spatula (Phonetic: Flat Osamu) — Pos: P. Birthplace: Okinawa. Blood Type: B. Career: Univ. of the Ryukyus
Jason Aguasubiba (Phon: Aguasu Beaver) — Pos: P. Birthplace: Dominica. Blood Type: –. Career: “Los Angeles Dodgers under the umbrella.”
Land Akiyama (Phon: Akiyama Land) — Pos: P. Birthplace: Tochigi. Blood Type: O. Career: BBC Sky Hawks.
Juan Benitez (Phon: Fan Sanchez) — Pos: P. Birthplace: Dominica. Blood Type: –. Career: Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
Summer Mountain Shota (Phon: Summer Mountain Shota) — Pos: C. Birthplace: Hiroshima. Blood Type: AB. Career: Wu Port High School. Oshiro Yuta (Phon: Oh Read Yuta) — Pos: Inf. Birthplace: Okinawa. Blood Type: O. Career: Oki Data Computer Education Institute.
Rashi-ina (Phon: A Sang Rashi-i) — Pos: Inf. Birthplace: Burkina Faso. Blood Type: –. Career: Gungenchimu.
Gin Jiro (Phon: Fujiwara Ginjiro Will)– Pos: Of. Birthplace: Aichi. Blood Type: O. Career: Oregon Chemeketa Communications College (dropped out).
Satoshi Ken (Phon: Chen Qi Shen) — Pos: Of. Birthplace: Taiwan. Blood Type: — . Career: Boston Red Sox Affiliate; Texas Rangers under the umbrella; Baltimore Orioles under the umbrella.
Hayashi Akira (Phon: phosphorous Jeffrey Shen) — Pos: Of. Birthplace: Taiwan. Blood Type: — . Career: Boston Red Sox Affiliate; Houston Astros Affiliate; Texas Rangers under the umbrella.
Hazem Miyashita (Phon: for example, Miyashita) — Pos: Of. Birthplace: Osaka. Blood Type: O. Career: Gunma Diamond Pegasus (Trainee)
Matsuoka Tianhe (Phon: Matsuoka Heaven) — Pos: Of. Birthplace: Kochi. Blood Type: A. Kochi Commercial HS.
A dozen narratives right there. Rashi-ina, for example, looks like he was born in Burkina Faso. How does he end up playing for a pittance in a Japanese independent league? How does GinJiro find his way to Chemeketa Communications College, and why does he drop out? What would motivate presumably loving parents to name their child “Formed Spatula” and why is that an appealing name in Japan? (Does Spongebob Squarepants have a stronger following in Japan that one would expect?) (Rats, I forgot: Spongebob references are wasted on half this league.) These questions just touch the surface, triggered only because there’s something unique in each person’s brief bio. The other half of the team has its narratives, too, perhaps richer with drama and poignance than any of these.
Kyuji Fujikawa will immediately become the star attraction on the Fighting Dogs. He’s the one with big league experience, both in the US and Japan. He was on the Japanese national team in the Olympics and in the WBC. He grew up in Kochi and made it to the big time, and now he’s returning home.
And he wrote a letter to his hometown fans. My command of Google-translated Japanese is limited, so I didn’t follow the entire letter. (“Although I thought that’s very thankful talk to because my own Major League Baseball” doesn’t come through quite clear to me.) But here’s the drift: Kyuji’s recovery from Tommy John surgery was discouraging. When he was finally permitted to throw a baseball, he could only throw it about 5 meters. As he extended his distance little by little, his attitude to baseball and life in general changed. While he was happy the Rangers gave him a chance once he could pitch again, and he would enjoy returning to the Major Leagues, he has gained a different perspective on what his skills are for.
I believe this might be the crucial passage in his letter (again, as per the Google translation):
In Kochi birthplace of me and my wife, a chance to become the future of superstar like her have connected to the future of a dream to children you had to ask the sight that I throw! I want to see the face of people who are willing by that I throw. People who have been rooting for me.
Kyuji goes on to apologize. He apologizes to all the people who supported him during his rehab, whose efforts won’t be rewarded in Texas. He apologizes (I think) to the the other players on the Fighting Dogs who will be inconvenienced or disrupted by his arrival and who were not consulted about it.
But in the end, Kyuji’s happiness at going home bubbles over:
^ _ ^ I so baseball players love baseball, in the coming once again ground to work towards the play, such as pleasing best. Family everyone in everyday to spend laughing every day I am happy No. 1 ^ _ ^ always thank you!
Those ^_^ things are emojis, I believe.
Who am I to begrudge a young man (who dreams inchoately about children) his chance to take his bride back home and continue playing baseball for a living? Who cares if there’s nary a hint as to the salary they are paying him, so the Wolverines will probably get no relief from what is already a puny fantasy financial obligation? I am content to let Mr. and Mrs. Fujikawa go home to start their family supported by the full value of my $500,000 fantasy dollars.
I tell my kids “it is no great honor to be hard to please.” There’s a corollary to that wisdom: the more things that give you pleasure, the easier it is to be happy. I want to thank Mr. Kyuji Fujikawa — the only player I will ever have who has two uji’s in his name (how’s that for harvesting pleasure from the smallest of flowers?) — for reminding me that the world comprises billions of narratives, each one of them a life with its own infinite cosmos so rich in beauty and intrigue that no human can ever comprehend it. Not even the one living it.
Thanks to Ron and Melanie for this moving story. ^_^